Leyden, Terry

Wednesday, 20 October 2010

Seanad Eireann Debate
Vol. 205 No. 2Unrevised

Page of 14

Order of Business

It would be worthwhile having a debate on the RTE Authority and the relevant legislation. We should bear in mind that section 18 of the Broadcasting Authority Act 1960 states: “It shall be the duty o...

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Finneran, my constituency colleague. I commend him on the excellent speech he made which outlined the situation on reform of the Seanad. It has been an intere...

I will not re-read the Minister of State’s speech. I will not plagiarise him. He outlined it in his speech; please read it. It was a very comprehensive speech and I hope it will be——

——circulated to councillors. I presume it will be.

It is interesting that Senator Maurice Cummins has not proposed an amendment with regard to the labour panel, of which he and I are members. He does not propose additional nominating bodies for that....

I was first elected to the Dáil in 1977. It took me three efforts and three panels to get elected to Seanad Éireann. I went on the administrative panel, which was mentioned, the industrial and comme...

——and the labour panel. I have experience in all fields to be elected to the House.

I wish Senator O’Toole well as vice chairman of the Personal Injuries Assessment Board, which is a wonderful appointment for a Member of the House. The relevant legislation allows a Member of this Ho...

——promoting the recent conference in Listowel which was very successful. I commend the chairman, Hugh McElvaney, the secretary, Noel Bourke, and Councillor Tom Crosby from Tarmonbarry in my constitue...

——who is the Oireachtas representative. We have a very close working relationship. Through Senator Diarmuid Wilson, the Government Whip, we met the LAMA executive in Leinster House to discuss other ...

My heart is with them in this regard.

I very much hope that the association would be allowed to take part in the nomination process. The Minister of State explained the matter very well and he will convince LAMA that its best interests l...

I am very pleased the Bill has been brought before the House but I am delighted with the Minister of State’s very persuasive presentation to the House.

I thank Senator Cummins; that is very kind of him. I appreciate his comments.

Small and Medium Enterprises: Motion

I welcome the Minister of State and commend him on his appearance last night on “Prime Time” and his defence and support of Government policy. He is doing tremendous work in the Department of Enterpr...

Indeed. If there are good ideas they are worth taking as far as I am concerned. It is important to welcome the opportunity to discuss the reality of where we currently are and the current challenges ...